• AN INCREASED SENSATION OF WEIGHT(LESS)(NESS)

• (1999)

Live installation • Research • Sound • Film

An Increased Sensation of Weight(less)(ness) was small, live, sound and image installation experiment, presented publicly in Robert’s studio at The People Show in Bethnal Green. Locked behind metal gates covered in white paper, Robert used Super 8 film and slides to back-project a sequence of images made from footage left over from earlier works. These were manipulated live using ink, heat, light and shadow, accompanied by a soundtrack of spoken, sung and whispered vocals, mixed live with pre-recorded sound created by Robert.

At the time, Robert was working on his Self-Elimination and Evidence of Life After Death live performances and installations. He was also at the beginning of what would become a five-year period of research into the development and application of 3D video projection for live performance. Rather than following the commercial direction of emerging 3D technologies, the research sought something more human, tactile and handmade.

The research explored the creative and technical possibilities of film and video within live performance. It included developing an in-depth understanding of multi-lensed camera systems, their creative applications and production costs; experimenting with surfaces including fabric, water, rope and gas; exploring composite editing techniques through studio practice; investigating translucent screens, laser video projection and dome system technologies; developing a method of projecting onto a spinning rope to form a globe; researching the then-emerging field of 4D arts; identifying specialist suppliers and manufacturers; and undertaking training in Final Cut Pro and Director.

This body of research eventually led to a simple reconfiguring of the traditional auditorium for Pacitti Company’s live performance work A Forest. Audience numbers were deliberately limited, seated in a circle, with every sightline carefully considered to create an immersive experience that offered a deliberately low-tech alternative to the multi-million-pound attractions of the time. The system relied on just three projectors, careful ingenuity and attention to detail. The result was a work that revealed its own making: a carefully constructed environment where technology was not hidden behind illusion, but used to explore the layered nature of relationships, stories and the shifting boundaries between public and private space. Which all began with this small yet tightly controlled experiment in Robert’s studio.

No documentation of this work exists, although some of the original footage, slides and sound recordings remain in Robert’s archive.